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Yoli
Lv 5
Yoli asked in Society & CultureLanguages · 7 years ago

(Korean grammar) How to use -거니 and -려니?

I was going through some TOPIK stuff, and I ran into these two grammar patterns, -거니 and -려니. I've seen them before, particularly the first one, but I don't understand how they are used and what they mean. All I know is that they attach to verbs and apparently have something to do with quoting speech?

Google isn't of much help, so I'd like a native/fluent speaker to explain this to me. Please write out some example sentences as well.

Thank you!

1 Answer

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  • 7 years ago
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    -거니 could be a verb ending of a question (does it make sense?). 거니 comes at the end of the sentence.

    But could be in a kind of sarcastic way:

    수업 올거니?

    Are you (finally) coming to class? - to your friend who is supposed to be coming to class but hasn't but hasn't arrived yet. And you are texting her for example.

    If you add 말거니 at the end, it would be Are you coming to class or not?

    그거 할거니?

    Are you (finally) going to do that (or choose that)? - to your friend who's thinking about what to buy

    그거 할거니 말거니? would be Are you going to do/choose that or not?

    In my opinion, people in Seoul area (or near Seoul area) use the 니 ending but when you go down south, people would say (할)거야? more than (할)거니?. And people in the south (of South Korea) don't like the 니 ending.

    -려니 is hard to explain. Hmm... I could say it's a part of a verb (and the action may be hasn't done yet).

    -려니 comes in the middle of a sentence unlike -거니.

    -려니 might be a short version for -려고 하니. And -려고 하니 is like trying to____

    Ex)

    • 혼자 하려니 하기 힘들다. - (It's) hard to do (it) alone.

    • 혼자 하려니 힘들지 않니? - (Isn't it) hard to (try to) do (it) alone?

    • 헤어졌다 다시 사귀고 이번엔 잘 해보려고 했는데 또 차였다. - After breaking up, (we) started dating again and (I) tried to do well but (s/he) dumped (me) again.

    • 싫어하는 과목을 공부하려니 머리가 아프다. - (I) have a headache (when I try to) study the subjects (I)don't like.

    • 아이를 집에 두고 나가서 일을 하려니 걱정이 된다. - (I'm) worried to leave (a) child at home and go to work outside (the home).

    • 너를 잊으려니 마음이 너무 아프다. - (My) heart really hurts (when I try) to forget you.

    • 늘 같이 가다 혼자 가려니 쓸쓸하다 - (I) feel lonely to go/walk (there) alone when I always went/walked (there) together.

    • 낮잠을 두시간 자고 밤에 잠을 자려니 잠이 안 온다. (I) took a nap for two hours and (when I try) to sleep at night, (I) can't sleep.

    I guess -려니 is used in negative situations?

    And the words in the parentheses are words that are not in the Korean sentences.

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